Portland Timbers

Breakdown

The Timbers have had great regular season success against one of their traditional rivals lately, which is the Seattle Sounders, but not so with their other rival from the NASL days, the Vancouver Whitecaps. The Timbers have not beaten the Whitecaps since May 23, 2004, and have not beaten the Whitecaps at PGE Park since July 3, 2003. That's a streak of nine matches without a win against them overall (0 wins, 6 losses, 3 draws) and five straight at home (0 wins, 2 losses, 3 draws). The last three matches against the Whitecaps at PGE Park have all been 1-1 draws and in all three cases, the Timbers had an early 1-0 lead that they let slip away.

The Timbers are settling into their new offensive scheme, with Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar at the heart of the offense, finally having settled into his new role at center midfield, though in the dynamic offensive scheme of Coach Chris Agnello, Hugo can move from left side to right side freely. Click here to read a fine article in Friday's Oregonian about Hugo. Mamba Chisoni has also proved to be a fine playmaker, and along with Mike Randolph overlapping from the left defensive position, and Luke Kreamalmeyer on the right side, have shown they can use pure speed to blow past just about any defender the league can throw at them. On the fast surface at PGE Park, this is a definite plus, and it's an advantage the Timbers have learned to use to their advantage in recent games. The Timbers are also the only team in the league with more than six different players having found the net (The Timbers have had eight players score so far), and are also the only team with four different players who have scored more than once (Byron Alvarez, Alejandro Gutierrez, Chisoni, Alcaraz-Cuellar). No other team has more than three.

On the defensive side, the Timbers have suffered their first injury of the season, with defender Michael Nsien's status unknown at this point. But his position was admirably filled by rookie Josh Brown against Seattle last weekend, so no major changes have been needed in the defense to accomodate the loss of Nsien. The defense has only given up one goal in the past three matches, and recorded their first two shutouts of the season on May 27 in Minnesota, and last weekend in Seattle. The defense has yet to record a shutout at home this season.

Current form

The Timbers have found their form in the past four matches, especially the 3-1 victory over Seattle at PGE Park on Saturday which was one of their best performances in years, and had the crowd of 6,000+ in such a frenzy that Timber Jim described it as the loudest crowd he had ever heard at PGE Park. The Timbers have earned 10 points out of a possible 12 with three wins and one draw in their last four matches. The Sounders came into last weekend's home-and-home vs. the Timbers on a streak of their own after taking four points from six against Vancovuer in a home-and-home, but the Timbers did the same thing to the Sounders last weekend, and have surged to the top of the Cascadia Cup standings, tied with both Seattle and Vancouver on points and leading on goal differential as all three teams are halfway through the Cup schedule. The Timbers also jumped to second place in the league with 14 points after the results last weekend, but with more games played that any other team, this is misleading. In terms of points per match, the Timbers are eighth.

Vancouver Whitecaps

Breakdown

The Whitecaps are traditionally one of the better teams in the league, and were predicted to be near the top of the league once again this year. After a fast start, the 'Caps have come back to the pack a bit, but still find themselves in third place in points, fourth place in points per match.

There are alot of familiar faces in the Whitecaps attack, with Joey Gjertsen (who scored the lone goal against the Timbers in Vancouver on April 22) and 2005 league scoring leader Jason Jordan up front. Gjertsen leads the league in scoring so far this year with five goals in eight matches. Gjertsen is the only Cap with more than one goal on the season, and Jordan has yet to score. Midfielder Tony Donatelli scored the equalizer for the Whitecaps at PGE Park on May 5, and familiar faces to Timbers fans such as Steve Klein, Martin Nash, Jeff Clarke, Geordie Lyall, and Alfredo Valente still fill the Whitecaps midfield and defense, though new additions Adrian Cann (from Colorado MLS) and Jay Alberts (Minnesota) have also seen playing time.

The Whitecaps have still not settled on their goalkeeper position, with new addition Tony Caig (Newcastle United) competing with Josh Wicks for playing time. Wicks has the better GAA to this point but Caig has seen more playing time. Wicks has been in goal for both matches against the Timbers so far this year.

Current form

After starting out with getting 10 points of the first 12 (3 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw), the Whitecaps are winless in their past five matches (0 wins, 1 loss, 4 draws) and only managed one point in their home-and-home with Seattle two weeks ago. Their last road match was a 1-1 draw at Minnesota this past weekend and the Whitecaps have yet to win on the road this year (0 wins, 1 loss, 2 draws). The Whitecaps played at home on Friday night, drawing 2-2 with Miami FC.

Series history

• The Timbers have not beaten the Whitecaps since May 23, 2004
• The Timbers have not beaten the Whitecaps at PGE Park since July 3, 2003
• The Whitecaps are undefeated in their last nine matches against the Timbers (6 wins, 0 losses, 3 draws).
• The Whitecaps and the Timbers have faced each other once in the playoffs, in 2002 when the Whitecaps advanced with two 1-0 wins.